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The Sweet Side of Death 
an Avarthrel tale by 
Urpo Lankinen
 first published
September 7th, 2008
Anchorfall, 11.XI.630 AR  
From: Faira Ativel, Wilhelmsroad 20, Anchorfall (A.Pr.)To: MaritaAtivel-Ramshead,Ram'sRun,MillHill-by-Arichryg(E.Pr.)Dear little sister,
I
know it is a strange thing to apologise for,butIhavetoapologiseanyway if Thalimve's courier causes too much commotion in a lit-tle town. If the Royal Postmen make people exited in your happyand tranquil home, I can't even begin to imagine what sort of whis-pering a courier from a Furinelian duke can cause. If anyone asks, just tell them this was a pretty ordinary letter from the weird bigsister of yours, who has gone insane with power… and if they wantducal couriers to carry the letters, all they have to do is to eithersave the kingdom a few times, or maybe just ask the embassy to de-liver the letter. Well, it usually works if you ask really nicely – theyusually have to deliver a bunch of letters anyway, and a few morewon't make any difference. Being a Hero and all just gives me ad-ditional nice perks: If I had really wanted to turn the letter deliveryinto a memorable spectacle, I could have got trumpeters and flowergirls and all that if I had simply asked, but all this would have been just a tiny bit silly. So, here's just the basic service – a handsome elf on a shiny white stallion.I had my reasons to use the official courier, however. Frankly,I wasn't in the condition to get worried about whether or not you'llget my note any time soon, so here I am, abusing my new privi-leges like no tomorrow and using up the scarce tax money of theKingdom of Furinel to send a bit of non-diplomatic diplomatic cor-respondence—evenwhenI'mnottechnicallysupposedtobeallowedto do this yet. But the elves tend to be rather flexible what comesto this sort of things, and me getting the official post in a few moremonths probably means the same thing to them as if you would tella human employer that you are starting tomorrow. A lot of things have changed since summer, but I have to say thata lot of things have stayed the same—all the better for my nerves.1
 
First, I have to thank you for letting me know about a shrine andnew memorial stone to the victims of the Storm of the Century in Altme. Is it really six years already since that horrible storm, or amI just remembering wrong? I'm sure the new memorial will help ev-eryone in our family to remember Father, and it will help everyonein Treglin to heal the wounds. It is good to hear that you have also visited the big, beautiful monument in Lyrchan. I was there at theunveiling, last year, and hoped you would have been there too. Youwouldn't believe Lyrchan was devastated! The city has been com-pletely rebuilt in such a short time, and the only unusual thing that younoticewhenyoucometothecityisthateverythinginthewater-front looks new and shiny. I have not visited Altme for a while, and Ido not get news from home as often as I'd like. I will visit the Altmeshrine myself at the earliest possible opportunity next spring. If  you visit Altme before I get the chance, I hope you give my warmestwishes to Mother and Grandpa while you are there. If I get therefirst, I will give them your regards, too. Jaana is doing well, and is growing so fast. She's busy playinggamesofallsortswiththekidsfromthisstreet,andasfarasfootballgoes, she's got some mean kicking power, considering she's almost3 years old now. I don't think she or any of the street kids quiteunderstand the rules, but all of them have so much fun playing ball.She wants me to add here that “Jaana loves Aunt Mari”. (…and alsothat if and when you come to Anchorfall, please bring King's Mints.She loved them and they're pretty hard to find here in Anchorfall.)TheCompanyisalsodoingwell. Isupposeyoustillrememberourleader, Facyr – he was the shy man who almost turned to jelly when you went and hugged him? Believe it or not, he got married a fewmonths back – to a real Aiecaertean princess! Well, she's a more orlessordinarycommonerrightnow, asfaraslawgoes–butshe'sstillaprincessthroughandthrough, believeme! CassandraArthailiadeTai–she'sbeenextremelyhelpfulforboththeCompanyandtheCityGuard. You can bet Facyr is quite a lot less shy nowadays!I also surprised everyone here by buying an old ship while I wasin Bluebrook –
The Springing Cat
, as she is now known, is only asmall caravel, but still good enough for what I intend to do. Notreally all that expensive, either, considering the amount of moneywe earn as mercenaries. It also couldn't have been a better time toget a ship, because at the beginning of last month I got my Letter of Marque back – all hail the Regent, yo-ho-ho and bottle of rum, andall that.I really had to pause for a moment and think of what exactly amI doing here: I'm again a Privateer captain… and next year I amsupposed to become a Duchess and a Special Envoy and just keepforging on with the Company. On a related note, I know you wereshocked by the news that I'm marrying Thalimve, but listen to whatI have to say – don't you worry about me mingling with the nobilitytoomuch: Thalwillrelinquishthecrowninafewyears, andmoveto Anchorfall with me… besides, these days, being a Privateer is muchbetter job than being a Duchess! I've not let down my old friends in2
 
the Twilight, either, and I sometimes help them to do good deeds forthe poor and miserable… though Facyr and Cassandra sometimeskeep grumbling about making the job of the City Guard harder.I sometimes wonder just how am I supposed to handle all this! You said that I'm not really a hero, just a professional trouble solver.I'm finding that more and more true. One of the reasons I love therestofthepeopleattheCompanyisthatallofusaretroublesolvers,not heroes. We all know that accomplishing something isn't all thatimportant and we all know that we have to keep fighting on.Oh well—the Company has already survived a few “great hon-ours”, and people have always more or less forgotten about us. TheCompany will be going on, and I'll go where they go. Everyone ex-cept Jenyr (the chest holder of our Company and a Captain of theCity Guard, I don't think you've had the chance to meet him) willprobably be happy to follow me on a few expeditions to the far seas.(Oh, as a side note, we had great fun in Facyr's and Cassandra's“honeymoon cruise” – short but ever-memorable trip to the Sand-hjolmintheGerthinesandafewotherniceislandsonthewayback!) And like I said, I'm not terribly worried about having a lasting im-pression as a Duchess and a Special Envoy of Kingdom of Furinel.Well, I'm sure someone at
the Times
will make a joke or two about“grappling-hook diplomacy”, but…I want to be perfectly honest, though – I long back to the dayswhen I was a Privateer of Varmhjelm, with nothing but a ship, opensea, the crew buzzing around, and adventure just beyond the hori-zon. I am happy that everyone is supporting me to attain that goal– especially you and Mother.But this is not really why I am writing to you. You probably knewalready what I think of these things. Life's too short to worry, dearMarita.What I'm about to tell may worry you. But don't worry, Marita. You'realwaysworriedaboutchange,and—ofcourse—
 youdon'thaveto change.
Well, since I left, you've gotten married (at a proper young age, no less) and moved to Varmhjelm and you're with a fam-ily of your own… but that's just building up from what you've beendoing, not changing the whole
direction
of your life. I, on the otherhand, havehadtochangebefore, andI'mnotafraidofchange. Well, yes, I know I was scared to tears, so many years ago, when I trust you the secret that I was going to run away rather than getting mar-ried. The thing is – I've been shocked by change, but that's not thesame thing as being afraid of the change itself. The change is neverreallyallthateasy, butIalwaystrustthateverythingwillbeallrightin the end.I am just writing this letter to say that there are things you canrely on when you think of me. I am, and always will be, on the sideof the good guys. You know this, I know you do. If something goeswrong – which isn't going to happen, I know it, by Old Notty's Dice– I know all of my friends will say the same thing in my defence.I am basically writing to tell you that I've done something thatmight cause some ruckus. I've done a thing that people do not ap-3
of 00

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uploaded a new revision for this document (#2)

11 / 19 / 2009

uploaded a new revision for this document (#1)

11 / 19 / 2009
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